Large-volume carbonated beverages, such as draught beer, are conventionally delivered to the place of consumption in metal kegs that typically hold a large volume of e.g. 25 litres. Such kegs are intended for expensive and elaborate dispensing assemblies comprising draught beer coolers, carbondioxide cartridges, etc., for cooling and dispensing the beverage from the container. Such kegs and dispensing assemblies are well known in the art.
The metal kegs are heavy, and thus difficult to handle, and cause excessive transportation costs. Furthermore, metal kegs have high manufacturing costs, and need to be collected for refilling after complete or partial emptying.
A keg is reused several times before it is scrapped. Consequently, kegs travel long distances in their life-time and the heavier they are the higher the transportation cost is. Additionally, the consumption of draught beer is very sensitive to seasonal variation. Especially in summer periods consumption is high, while in colder periods consumption is low. Therefore, to be able to meet the demand a large number of kegs must be in circulation causing storage of plenty of empty kegs during periods of low consumption.
Another disadvantage of the known draught beer assemblies is that many parts that are in contact with the beverage are reused and therefore require regular cleaning in order to keep the parts hygienically clean and to prevent bacteria growth. The cleaning is time consuming and it may be difficult to perform sufficiently thorough cleaning of all the parts. If the parts that are in contact with the beverage are not cleaned thoroughly it will influence the quality of the beverage.
To overcome some of these disadvantages beverage containers for dispensing assemblies produced in lighter, more flexible materials have been introduced. Plastic bags emptied by pressing out the content mechanically, pneumatically or hydraulically have been tested, but are too fragile for most practical purposes.
Also dispensing from collapsible beverage bottles made of plastic materials, e.g. PET, are known in the art. These bottles are emptied by collapse of the bottle wall by application of mechanical, pneumatic or hydraulic pressure causing the content to be squeezed out. Such beverage bottles contain only small volumes, such as a few litres, and are not directly comparable to metal kegs, which hold a substantially larger volume of beverage. However, the collapsible bottles have a number of advantages over metal kegs in many aspects.
Plastic materials can be ground up, and the resulting granulate can be used in production of new plastics materials. The granulate takes up little space. thus eliminating the need for large storage. Since the bottles are lighter, they are easier to handle and involve smaller transportation costs. Plastic bottles can be made transparent to allow visual inspection of the content or they can be dyed in any desired color. When emptied the bottle is collapsed and will take up little space during transportation for recycling.
A dispensing assembly with a collapsible beverage bottle is for example known from EP-A1-1 003 686. This apparatus constitutes an integrated dispensing device comprising a housing with a lid, sealing means, a pressure source, a cooling device and a dispensing tap. The dispensing apparatus has a complicated design, comprising a vast number of parts, the parts themselves being elaborate, costly devices. There is thus a need for providing an assembly for dispensing beverage which has a simple design and construction wherein beverage containers even though being relatively heavy easily may be handled by an user.
Furthermore, due to government regulations, environmental concerns, and material costs is desired to recycle the bottle when it is emptied. and to dispose and replace other elements at the same time as the bottle is being replaced. This is often done by collecting and grinding the plastics material bottles, as well as other elements. In view of environmental concerns, and for economic reasons as well, there is a need to develop elements and parts for single-use in an assembly for dispensing beverage, and to make these parts or elements as small as possible, both in size and weight, without compromising the functionality, security, or durability of the parts and elements.